Sharing my journey through life.

When there’s a project that needs to be done and we don’t know what to do the first thing I do is start researching it.

Lacie just does it.

For example, we recently bought a new house a few weeks ago. The house came with a nice garden that had a bunch of raised beds. Neither one of us had ever planted a vegetable garden so we were clueless about what to do.

So I added “research vegetable gardens” to my to-do list.

But before I had time to get to my research Lacie came home one day with a load of “starts.” I was like, “What are those? Are they the right ones? What kind of soil do we need?”

I had a million questions but she was just like, “Yeah, I don’t know if I’m doing it right but I just bought these and figured we could plant them. And I talked to my Mom and she told me the type of top soil to get. So let’s go get it tomorrow and plant them!”

And we did. We picked up a yard and a half of top toil and planted the garden.

Now when I look outside our window there’s eight different planter boxes full of plants growing. The project is done. If it were up to me I’d probably still be reading blog posts and watching YouTube videos about “How to plant a vegetable garden.”

I would have gained a bunch of knowledge about it but not done anything.

This is also why she is also a more natural entrepreneur than I am.

We took the Kolbe Index test and I scored an 8 in Quick Start (aka the Entrepreneurial strength) and Lacie was a 9 (I think she’s actually a 10).

The point is I’ve learned a lot from watching how my wife approaches projects. She’s a doer. And she just gets stuff done. I have that in me too but if I’m not careful the Fact Finder part of me will stop the Quick Start part.

For example, I know I need to build a marketing website for my new company I’m launching, Advisors Grow. But I’m dragging my feet because I’m thinking about it too much instead of just doing it.

I know I need to be building my email list but I don’t. Instead I read blogs and attend webinars about list building.

Same thing with my spiritual life. I’d rather read 10 books about prayer than spend 10 minutes actually praying.

The Bible actually talks about this. In James it says we should be “doers not just hearers only.”

So how do you become more of a doer?

Thankfully, years ago I realized I struggle with over-thinking. I admitted I had a problem and sought help. And I started too do things differently which changed my life.

Here are some of the areas of my life where I went from “knowing the path” to “walking the path”:

1) Addiction: I went to one of the top rehabs in the country, Hazelden Springbrook, for an in-patient treatment program. I learned all about addiction. After I got out I started taking college classes because I wanted to become an Addiction Counselor. But I couldn’t stay clean myself. I relapsed twice after I left rehab until I finally started “doing” what I needed to do to stay clean.

2) Money: I struggled to stay out of debt and pay my bills until someone mentored me on how to “do” the things necessary to have a healthy financial life. Things like budgeting, tithing and staying out of debt.

3) Business: For years I read about starting a business and I dreamed of quitting my job. But it wasn’t until I started taking action that things changed. I wanted to become a freelance copywriter. So I started publishing a blog post twice a week. I took action.

And here are a few of lessons I learned as I’ve tried to go from being a thinker to a doer:

1) Start Now: you’ll never know enough to feel ready. It’s a trick to think you just need a little more knowledge before you can start. Start now and you can keep learning as you go.

2) Develop Daily Action Habits: Start doing things daily that are action-oriented. Publish something daily. Do 100 pushups a day. Send one prospecting email out a day. Reading and learning is great but choose an Action Habit.

3) Create vs Consume: If you’re a thinker you’re probably a reader, and that’s OK. But if you want to become a Doer then you need to focus more on creating than on consuming. So ditch your Facebook account and start blogging. Instead of watching YouTube videos start making your own.

Those are just a few things that have helped me become more of a Doer. Feel free to add to the list by leaving a comment below.